This is the E3 'hub' for Skyrim info (and also the site of an epic turf war). Gameplay demos and trailers will still get their own threads, but they'll all be linked here for reference, as well. Any other news you'll be able to find here.

UPDATE 8:

Originally Posted by Seanspeed

Didn't feel this needed its own thread, but I've got pre-order info:

Get a premium Skyrim map with your preorder

Making real maps of our fantasy worlds is an Elder Scrolls tradition. As Todd Howard said all the way back in a Morrowind blog post, “There’s something about having a physical object in your hands that feels like it’s part of this other world, that you are that person in the game, finding your way among the hills.”

With that in mind, today we are announcing that anyone who preorders Skyrim will automatically receive a premium quality world map with their copy as a no-extra-cost-to-you bonus.

Update: We’ve received plenty of questions about the map. So you know, it’s a high-grade material that has a feel similar to burlap, and will be available in North America and European territories. There will be a regular paper map included in all copies of the game, but if you want to get the premium map, we recommend pre-ordering the game.

- Doomstones, like in Oblivion, can give you birthsign-like buffs and talents. If you decide you want a different constellation to "guide you", you can activate a different doomstone. They're scattered across Skyrim.
- The speechcraft wheel from Oblivion is out. Instead, the game offers speech checks like in the Fallout games.
- You can bash and block with bows, staffs and two-handed swords.
- The ecology interacts with each other. Foxes will, for instance, hunt rabbits.
- Storm Call is a high level shout, and calls down a lightning strike from the heavens.
- Giants are mentioned to be 12ft tall.
- "It will take 300 hours to see everything this game has to offer".
- The city of Whiterun is surrounded by brown and green tundra
- Mammoths travel in herds, and usually with giants. Attack one mammoth, and you’ll get the entire herd after you.
- An attacking dragon is decribed as “picking up a Giant’s body in its claws”
- Dragons can sometimes back eachother up in combat (though it’s not common)
- Not every dragon is a “fire” dragon. There are other types.
- One of the boss-level enemies is called a “Draugr Overlord”
- Ward spells are a magical “shield”, and are an effective alternative to using a corporeal one.
- The three crafting systems in the game are enchantment, alchemy and smithing.
- The dungeons in Skyrim are Bethesda’s way of making a more “scripted, dramatic” experience
- You can loot giant’s noses and toes.
- Armor pieces are, contrary to what the magazine says, still in.

The random quests generated by the game’s Radiant Story-mechanic were inspired by the random encounters in Fallout 3. The people at Bethesda didn’t like how ‘fake’ some of the quests in Oblivion felt, and hope to make the ones in Skyrim feel more ‘real’.

There are 13 different types of ore to be used for your Crafting/Smithing skill. There's also a casualty: Hand to Hand has been removed. It will presumably be replaced by a perk tree in the One-handed skill, like Blade and Blunt.

There are 60.000 lines of recorded dialog in the game, with a lot more voice actors than in Oblivion or Fallout 3 (for reference: Fallout 3 had 40.000 recorded lines). Three new factions are also confirmed (alongside the Dark Brotherhood):
- The Thieves Guild
- The College of Winter Hold (for Mages)
- The Companions (for Warriors)

The stories told in these faction questlines will be interwoven with one another, and with the main questline.

Each city in the world has an unique economy, which the player can sabotage, should they so desire. Cities are still patrolled by guards, but they’re no longer the omniscient killing machines they were in Oblivion. Bounties the player can incur are also no longer valid throughout the land: for instance, if you kill someone in Hold A, the guards in Hold B will not arrest you for it.

As for traversing the world, you get a few options. Horses are back, and according to the article actually handle like horses this time. The fast-travel system from Morrowind returns as well, with carriages able to transport you to all the major settlements in Skyrim right from the start. Oblivion's fast-travel also returns, but only for locations you've already discovered.

There are also new screenshots described, though I haven't seen them for myself yet. These include a battle with a Draugr, a campsite near a river, a new type of fire spell, a female human character walking towards a city, a close-up of a female (possibly Imperial) warrior, a guard in Legionnaire armor and a bearded Nord in a castle, armed with a warhammer.

At the start of the game, your map will be empty, apparently. No settlements you can fast-travel to or anything. The carriages you encounter in each settlement can take you to another settlement for a small cost, right from the start of the game. The other fast-travel system is more akin to Fallout 3 than Oblivion: you can use your map to fast-travel to any landmark on the map, but only after discovering it. So no warping to a city on the edge of the map right at the start of the game. :)

With the dragons randomly appearing, could we encounter never-ending ranks of dragons ? Without a degree of permanence, the spectacle associated with fighting dragons is liable to become a farce, to be honest.

Hopefully the PC version will see a mod that populates the world with a set number.

With the dragons randomly appearing, could we encounter never-ending ranks of dragons ? Without a degree of permanence, the spectacle associated with fighting dragons is liable to become a farce, to be honest.

With the dragons randomly appearing, could we encounter never-ending ranks of dragons ? Without a degree of permanence, the spectacle associated with fighting dragons is liable to become a farce, to be honest.

Hopefully the PC version will see a mod that populates the world with a set number.

Honestly, that's one of my fears, too. :lol I'm hoping the end of the main quest at least sees them disappear from the world, like the Oblivion gates in Oblivion or the Obelisks of Order in Shivering Isles.

I'm expecting Unarmed combat will still be in the game, by the way, but perhaps as a subset to the One-handed 'weapon' skill. Perhaps it's another perk tree you can specialize in. :)

Originally Posted by Jenga

so is there any new skills besides removing/rearranging old ones?

Crafting seems to be a new skill. Illusion, Athletics and Acrobatics have been removed. Blade, Blunt (and perhaps Hand to Hand) have been merged into "One-handed" and "Two-handed". There's still a bit of uncertainty about the skills, though. Maybe we'll learn more at E3.

I will really enjoy this game. I enjoyed Oblivion immensely-- until those goddamned oblivion gates started opening, and that pretty much halted my progress in the main story line. The first one or two were interesting and kinda fun, but they got very old and tedious rather quickly. I hope dragons aren't the new oblivion gates.

uh, are these fallout type perks or do the new perk systems give you abilities and shit?

Most of them are basically 'sub-skills'. You get to pick one each time you level up, and most are organized in 'trees'. Say, for instance, you've got a badass Nord character who likes to smack things with a huge two-handed warhammer. By using that warhammer, your two-handed skill will go up, and your level will eventually increase. When you level up, you can specialize in the 'warhammer'-perk tree (assuming there is one). This makes you even more effective with the warhammer as opposed to, say, a claymore.

As for effects, they can vary. We've heard of a perk that allows your sword slashes to slice through armor, or a perk that makes damage done by a mace last longer. Not sure if we'll be seeing any 'crazy stuff' like in Fallout, though I doubt it.

I enjoyed Oblivion immensely-- until those goddamned oblivion gates started opening, and that pretty much halted my progress in the main story line. The first one or two were interesting and kinda fun, but they got very old and tedious rather quickly. I hope dragons aren't the new oblivion gates.

However, this game is getting such an enormous amount of hype I can't help but feel many people will be disappointed. My expectations are fairly low, despite Elder Scrolls being one of my favorite series.

I will really enjoy this game. I enjoyed Oblivion immensely-- until those goddamned oblivion gates started opening, and that pretty much halted my progress in the main story line. The first one or two were interesting and kinda fun, but they got very old and tedious rather quickly. I hope dragons aren't the new oblivion gates.

Agreed. Something that tedious and cookie-cutter made the gates horrendous to complete.

Originally Posted by Dedication Through Light

Hope they offer a special edition or something enticing to get me there on day 1 in that crowded November.

I would be a day 1 regardless, but I am also waiting for a limited/collector's/special edition to come out. And then, NECA needs to make a figurine of the dragons so I can add it to my video game figurines collection ^_^

I really want to know more about the stealth/punishment systems. If one guard sees me steal a fork, does that mean all guards in that area are instantly aware of my actions? Or can I cut down the guard and get away with it?

I really want to know more about the stealth/punishment systems. It's good to know that bounties don't cross zones, but if one guard sees me steal a fork, does that mean everyone in the region is instantly aware of my actions? Or can I cut down the guard and get away with it?

I truly hope the former is not the case. Stealing was such a chore in Oblivion because of those dame omnipresent guards.

Oh man, Thieves Guild. Lots of great info here, really has me excited. This game, and the potential for mods (I hope?) will really keep shit real. Oblivion, for me, was an enjoyable experience.

I love to hear about the economy stuff.

Originally Posted by ahoyhoy

I truly hope the former is not the case. Stealing was such a chore in Oblivion because of those dame omnipresent guards.

They were frustrating, especially when trying to play a Thief. I also hope the measures taken to realize crime and punishment in this game are drastic. It makes no sense that every guard would know instantly of my thefts!

Yeah I know, to say that's been needed for a long time is an understatement. I can see how if you became hugely notorious for murder, kidnapping, and looting lots of innocents word would spread of your crimes. However to steal a fork, and travel 200 miles away and still have people trying to arrest you was without a doubt a huge pain and an annoying game mechanic.